Divorcing wife fights for share of ex's sex abuse compensation

An estranged wife is fighting for part of her husband's payout for sexual abuse - even though he's made plans to donate it to charity.

Helen Tippett, 41, says she wants the money to be regarded as a 'marital asset' and included in the divorce settlement she's negotiating with husband Andrew Kerslake, 45.

As a young child, Mr Kerslake was abused hundreds of times by a family friend, who was jailed for three years in 1998. Four years later, the government's Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority awarded him £175,000 in compensation.

However, Mr Kerslake says he regarded the payout as 'dirty money', and didn't want to profit from it. Instead, he set up the Andrew Kerslake Trust to manage the money with the aim of leaving it to two charities.

The money in the trust, which will go to help other victims of sexual abuse when he dies has now risen to £250,000, and Mr Kerslake is fighting to keep it where it is.

"It doesn't seem right that my ex-wife should get a penny of it – it does not belong to her, she wasn't the one who was abused. It is shameless and immoral that she is even trying," he tells the Daily Mail.

"I didn't apply for the money. I didn't really want it at the time. But I'm not prepared to hand it over as part of our divorce settlement."

But Ms Tippett only works part-time in a church breakfast club, and claims she needs the money to buy a house in Llanharan, South Wales for herself and the younger two of her four children.

Generally speaking, while assets owned before a divorce are counted as 'non-marital' and left out of divorce arrangements, anything acquired during the marriage is fair game. Mr Kerslake and Ms Tippett were happily married at the time of the compensation award.

However, payouts from legal settlements, or gifts received during the marriage that weren't intended as 'family' gifts can also be excluded, as long as they are kept separate during the marriage.

If Ms Tippett is successful in her claim, it is believed to be the first time that compensation paid to a sex abuse victim will have been included in a divorce settlement.

The case is due to be decided in September.